Day Fifteen: Paschal Mystery, Part Four

“Students will be able to define and describe the purpose of the Paschal Mystery.” The last blog gives an anthropological lens through which we can view the relationship we are called to have with God. This lens is vital in understand the “why” of the paschal mystery. I turn to my students; they have the “why”; now is when I give them the “how”.

A stone Crucifix in the middle of Shanagolden, Ireland. The self-emptying of Jesus is a sign of what it means to "let go" of our own fixations on material Truths. This sort of humility and vulnerability is Authentic Love. (photo P. Smith)

First, Jesus is God (Son in the Trinity). I ask students to practice a little academic restraint before they reject everything I have to say. Second, Jesus is the Incarnation of God (God made flesh; humility). I teach these two points in more depth in a later unit on Christology. Third, the mission of Jesus is to help us develop a relationship with God so we can be Loved and Love more perfectly. Jesus’ entire purpose is to be “a rope” for us so we can become what God made us to be: Beloved and Lover. This was the thesis of the previous blog. Without this basic premise of who Jesus is and why He is, the Paschal mystery is merely an academic idea. This groundwork and basic knowledge allows for deeper, rational contemplation, a True attribute of God in whose image and likeness we are made.

To be specific, the Paschal Mystery refers to the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. Jesus lives and experiences the same sufferings that we experience, especially rejection and death. He dies on a cross even though He does not have to; he dies just like we do. Jesus is resurrected from the dead. He ascends, body and soul, into Heaven. This is all fundamental catechesis for any Catholic,  but I push my students to consider this mystery.

The Resurrection and Ascension at the Trinitarian Abbey in Adare, Ireland. The Resurrection and Ascension are not events limited to Jesus' life, but also ensured to our life as we grow in relationship with God. If Jesus is fully human, then we, too, can experience this saving Love of God. (photo. P. Smith)

Through His life and death, Jesus comes to experience what we experience. His sacrifice and humility shows us what it means to Love and to be Loved; He is willing to suffer with us (in the Pit; see previous blogs). Through His Resurrection and Ascension, Jesus shows us that if we learn to Love and to be Loved in a relationship with Him, we are no longer fixated on material Truths and we can have Hope that we. Too, will be Resurrected and we will spend eternity with God in Heaven.

What does the Paschal Mystery teach us about Love? What does Love look like? Love is self-giving. It is Humble. (Incarnation, Suffering, and Death are signs of God’s Love for us). Love is also Hopeful. The Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus (because Jesus is Human, too) are signs that we can experience a relationship with God, just like Jesus. Indeed, we are called to be in relationship with God, not so God can Love us and be Loved by us, but so we can learn what is means to Love and to be Loved if a full and Authentic way. The Paschal mystery is an image for us of what it means to be Fully Human… to be our Authentic Self.